'Duty to protect investors from unfair competition'
Published on: Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: The State Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry feels it has the responsibility to protect the interest of foreign hotel investors by preventing competition with other hospitality service operators who "only have to comply with lower regulations" to run their business.Assistant Minister Datuk Pang Yuk Ming said as Sabah is still facing a shortage of hotel rooms and needs more foreign investors to help build more to meet the growing need of tourists, allowing such competition would only drive them away."With many hotels coming in (to Sabah), it won't be fair to the international (hotel) chains to come here yet (they) have to compete with (operations) which only fulfil lower regulations than them," he told a press conference after the official opening of Mercure Hotel, here, Monday.
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Pang was responding to a reporter's question on updates concerning the AirBnB service in the State."We must show investors who want to come to invest in the hotel industry in Sabah that we are serious in protecting their interest and rights. "If we don't do this and allow everybody to do anything they want, then we won't present a good front to overseas investors," he said. Contrary to some people's opinion, Pang insisted that AirBnB is a business and therefore must comply with specific regulations required of every business premise such as the mandatory need to install safety features such as water sprinklers, smoke detectors and emergency exit, among others.On top of that, he said there are by-laws and regulations that only allow such operation in commercial zones, not residential.
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Last month, State Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Hajiji Noor had said the State Government would come out with guidelines on the online home-sharing service following a discussion by the State Cabinet.He had also said the Attorney-General's office would be finalising the guidelines.
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Previously, City Planning Department Director Stanley Chong reportedly said he hoped the guidelines would be ready end of the year "to ensure it serves the interest of tourism without becoming a public nuisance."He said currently, City Hall treats AirBnB platform as lodging house and therefore has to abide by the Hotel and Lodging Houses Bylaws 1966.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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